The lessons science and pharmacology teach us about
achieving optimal health, vitality and maximal lifespan with a low net carb, high saturated fat, evolutionarily paleolithic-styled diet aligned with my ancestral heritage and how I lost 50 pounds of body fat. A sorta fairy story.

Our fearless low-carber Diabetes Warrior, Steve Cooksey, and I are doing a little n=1 experiment with an amped-up version of Bionic Fiber and the 7 Steps. Bionic Fiber replenishes the ancestral phylogenetic core microbiota which are damaged by SAD diets, antibiotics and high-dosage potato starch (raw resistant starch, type 2). These are the gut flora that also happen to regulate insulin and body fat storage.

Steve uses a VLC (very low carb) diet to control blood sugars and successfully reversed obesity and complications related to diabetes. As 1/8 Cherokee Native American Indian, the VLC diet suits him well though he eats starches occasionally. Steve works out frequently and his diet includes a lot of greens including dandelion salads which are rich in inulin-FOS.

Steve's results so far show reduction in weight prior to the holidays and no gains during the festivities. He was very pleased to see the blood glucoses (BG) improve from 70 - low 90s to 59 - 80s. Stools improved within 1-2 wks going from 3 times per week to daily.

PROBLEM WITH POTATO STARCH? RAISES BLOOD GLUCOSES: FOLZ FAMILY

In the Folz Family RUMP/raw potato starch experiment, the family members all observed higher blood glucoses with 1 TBS potato starch except for Child 1 who was taking 1 TBS PSYLLIUM which has been shown to reduce body weight and blood glucoses. The n=1 are small but the point of the experiment was to measure BG as a metric of gut health. Adult 2 was trying to lose weight but no body fat losses or weight loss were reported during or after the 6 week experiment.

Tigernut man was the last hominid that studies show consumed a high RS2 diet -- and he and his pre-human lineage expired 1.2 million years ago. The hunter-gatherers who learned to cook and use routine fire dominated the plains, steeps, and gallery forests during the hundreds of thousands of years that followed. Our diet and gut flora have likely adapted and reflects vast changes in the fiber and diversity of resource allocation since then. The flora that feed and crossfeed from raw starches (Bacteroides, Clostridium) are not the dominant immunoprotective nor body fat controlling ones (Bifidobacteria longum, Akkermansia, Christensenella, Roseburia, Faecalibacterium, etc) which consume a variety of fiber but not raw starches well or at all. The raw starch eating bacteria help make us human compared to chimps but they are not the powerful anti-inflammatory gut flora that help our bodies to efficiently utilize fats and complex carbohydrates and by cycling body fat back into ready energy brain energy (glucose or ketones). In that respective it explains why in human and pig studies (prior post), raw starches (RS Type 2) such as high-amylose maize and raw potato starch fail to appear to perform well metabolically and may even raise fasting insulin and insulin resistance. Body fat doesn't improve or even gets worse. Gut researchers cannot reconcile the differences between the good hamster/rodent studies and the lack of translation in human studies and human subjects.

Rats lose body fat on their native diet -- raw starch -- but humans do not appear to (or even get fattier organs, higher BP and higher insulin, Bodinham et al 2012 and 2014), and perhaps this is related the fact that no current human society consumes large dosages of raw starches in their regular daily diet or at least not without being accompanied by an upwards of 150 grams of dietary fiber (Hadza). So is raw starch part of the natural food for our gut flora? What adverse shifts in the gut flora happen when unnatural 'fiber' becomes a large component of dietary fiber for humans and fuel for our 100 trillion gut inhabitants? The research seems pretty clear that our gut flora are maladapted, and, worse, the gut shifts affect metabolism and insulin sensitivity by lowering keystone anti-inflammatory gut species that are associated with leanness and insulin sensitivity.

"Resistant starches (RS) are also fermentable non-digestible
carbohydrates (Bird et al., 2010; Robertson, 2012). Although
they are not regarded widely as a prebiotics, most forms
of RS induce changes in gut microbiota composition
(Flint, 2012). In rodents, data suggest that chronic RS
feeding upregulates proglucagon expression (i.e. GLP-1
precursor) in the colon with concomitant increases in
neuropeptide expression in the hypothalamus (Shen et
al., 2009; Zhou et al., 2008). These effects result in weightloss and improvements in glycaemic control. However, todate there is no evidence for this in humans (for review see Robertson, 2012)."

Cooksey tried potato starch but it didn't lead to permanent changes in body composition -- sometimes he gained weight, sometimes he lost weight. Blood sugars and stools initially improved then plateaued, so after a few months he gave up and noticed no change afterwards in glycemic control.

Like all the gut profiles I've reviewed, I would strongly suspect the lack of permanent improvements were related to adverse shifts in Cooksey's guts a result of high dosage potato starch induces on the gut.

--suppression of Bifidobacteria longum, the keystone immunity and gut guard (depletion is associated with nearly all human diseases studied so far)

--reductions in Akkermansia(higher the better, the lower the blood sugars and disease in human trials)

--reductions in Christensenella(higher the better, the lower the body fat and disease in human trials)

--reductions in Roseburia and F. prausnitzii particularly for those on lower carb diets (these are the large butyrate producers of Clostridia XIVa and IV and are immunoprotective)

To fill in the gaps that are missing in the microbial fingerprints of most modern and damaged guts, Geurts et al advise several fibers and prebiotics to increase Akkermansia, Bifidobacteria longum, Roseburia and F. prausnitzii including chitin-beta glucan, arabinoxylan (psyllium, grains), oligosaccharides and inulin-FOS. Amped-up bionic fiber contains a variety of these to promote diversity in the gut -- low doses of several fibers that all increase acetate, propionate, butyrate and long term raise GLP-1, an anti-inflammatory gut hormone that promotes fat burning and leanness. Geurts et al discusses GLP-1 in detail. These fibers that raise GLP-1 are found in a variety of foods including the below. Steve Cooksey loves to forage for dandelion roots and greens, wonderful sources of inulin-FOS which are nuclear powerhouses that enrich Akkermansia and B. longum and which are both shown in human trials to lower blood sugars, improve fat loss and potently fix glycemic control.

“A. muciniphila is important for a healthy host as its decreased abundance is associated with compromised health including acute appendicitis, ulcerative colitis, autism and atopic diseases. Finally, the abundance of A. muciniphila is inversely correlated with obesity ...plays a pivotal role in obesity as its duodenal delivery regulates fat-mass gain, metabolic endotoxemia, adipose tissue inflammation, and insulin resistance”Source

B. ANIMALIS AND B. LACTIS ARE NOT AS EFFECTIVE AS GUT SPECIALIST BIFIDOBACTERIA LONGUM

Several bifido probiotics exist on the market but none work as effectively to improve immunity, improve gut disorders and reverse diseases as the ones native to humans: B. longum, B bifidum and B breve. In healthy guts and breastmilk of healthy, disease-free mothers, B. longum is the dominant species (see above table).

"In this context recent clinical studies as well as murine-based trials involving supplementation of probiotic bifidobacteria belonging to the B. animalis subsp. lactis taxon coupled with metagenomics investigations, highlighted the lack of any effect in terms of modulation/modification of the gut microbiota composition upon intake of such probiotic bacteria,41,42 thus reinforcing the notion that the use of bifidobacterial strains that do not have a human origin, such as members of the B. animalis subsp. lactis species, may be limited in their ability to interact with other members of the gut microbiota or with the host." (Ventura, Turroni et al 2014)

While most point to diet and exercise as key markers of achieving good health, Tony brings up another great aspect of living well: being apart of one’s community. A discussion on how tapping back into our roots can play an integral part of ones health. by helping and developing a sense of community with the ones surrounding gives us the same tribal setting as our ancestors.

Gather some tubers, and huddle a group of your closest friends around the fire for this podcast!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Tony Federico, host of the Paleo Magazine Radio show, joins Dr. Grace and Matt to talk about his uBiome results. A possible beneficial strain Christensenella was abundant in Tony’s gut, which Dr. Grace goes into further detail. Tony talks beyond just Paleo, bringing insight to his day to day life, and how he maintains his healthy living. Tony asks Dr. Grace’s opinion on the potential effects of resistant starch and avoiding too many starches on a paleo diet.